Fire-door



C. R. BUMBARGER.

FIRE DOOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT 2 l9l9.

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C. R. BUMBARGER.

FIRE DOOR. "APPLICATION FILED SEPT 2. 1919. 1,369,518. Patented Feb. 22, 1921.

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UNITED sTA E s PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE R. BUMBARGER, OF- KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, ASSIGNOR TO THE GEO. w, JOHNSON MFG. 00., OF KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, A CORPORATION OF MISSOURI.

FIRE-DOOR.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CLARENCE R. BUM- BARGER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Kansas City, in the county of J ackson and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in,

Fire-Doors; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others 0 skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this speci fication. v

This invention relates to door and window closures and one of the objects thereof is to provide a curtain normally wound upon a drum or shaft which may be manually actuated to cause the curtain to unwind to cover an opening or wind to uncover it, there being means provided to cause a stream or jet of water to play against the curtain in case of fire in the building, and the mechanism is so constructed that in case of fire while the curtain is wound up, automatic unwinding will take place to permit the curtain to cover the opening and allow water to be delivered against the ourtain until it is shut off.

According to the generic adaptation of my invention, the invention may consist of v a flexible door or shutter, preferably corrugated and adapted to be wound upon a drum. However, upon sufiicient rise in temperature to permit the actuation of an associated releasing device, the drum will unwind, releasing the curtain, door or shutter to close the opening and at the same time cause water to flow over the door or shiitter to protect it, this being deemed advisable to minimize the liability of the to burn through the curtain.

In the drawings,

Figure I is a'perspective view of a device constructed in accordance with my invention.

Fig. II is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the housing, the drum and the springs for operating the drum; the Water pipe and part of the shutter ordoor being shown in elevation, and Fig. III is an end view of my invention.

Specification of Letters Patent.

'the drum, so that the screen may move into Patented Feb. 22, 1921.

Application filed September 2, 1919. Serial No. 320,?98.

Referring now to the drawings by numerals of reference: I

1 designates a housing which may be conveniently secured to the upper portion of a window or door frame and said housing is provided with ends 2 and 3. Projecting through 'the ends of the housing 1 are the sections 4 and 5 of a tubular axle, the outer ends of the sections being mounted in the ends 2 and ,3 and the inner ends being supported on plugs 6 and 7 carried by the water pipe 8, which extends substantially the entire length of the axle and rests on supports 9 and 10, the latter being provided with a gland or stuffing box 11 to prevent leakage, the opposite end of the axle being closed by a cap 12. The pipe is provided with openings 13 of greater area than the open ings 14 in the axle so that when water is introduced into the axle, pressure will be provided to cause the water to be sprayed against the shutter or curtain when it moves into place under abnormal conditions, it being understood, of course, that the curtain may be wound and unwound upon the drum without releasing the water.

The housing is provided with a deflector or plate 15 to direct the water against the screen, as will be presently explained.

The curtain or screen is mounted upon a drum consisting of the flanged disks 16 and 17 and the connecting bars 17. The hub portions 18 and '19 of the disks are loosely mounted upon the axle and. each disk is provided with a coil spring, one end of which is fastened to the axle and the other to the flange of the disk. The spring 20 slightly preponderates over the spring 21 and has an unwinding movement to release the door or screen 22 normally wound upon position to close the opening 23 of the framed openings 24. When the spring 20 is unwinding, the spring 21 is winding so that there is a resistance ofi'ered by the spring 21 to the spring 20, but this is not suflicient to prevent the screen or curtain from moving into opening-closing position. The members 1 and'5 carry disks 25 and 26 outside the 'ends of the casing and the disk 25 is provided with openings 27 adapted to be engaged by the pin 28 to hold it in 105 fixed position with respect to the casing.

The disk, however, may be rotated to impart a winding movement to the spring 21. The disk 26 also may be rotated with its member 5 to wind the spring 20 and when the screen or curtain 22 is wound upon the drum and the parts are ready to operate, the disk 26 will be held against movement by means of a pin or finger 29, which engages one of the openings 30 in the disk, the finger being carried by a latch lever 31 pivoted to the casing at 32 and having a free end provided with a weight 33 connected to a fusible link 34 by a flexible connection 35 which passes over the pulley 36.

The pipe 8, exteriorly of the casing, is provided with a valve 37 to which is fastened a lever arm 38 adapted to be engaged by the pin 39 when the disk 26 rotates.

When the parts are set up ready for use, the disk 25 may be rotated to impart a slight winding movemnt to the spring 21 and then held in position by the pin 28. The disk 26 may be rotated to wind the spring 20 and then held in place by the finger 29. The valve will be closed off but ready to be actuated through the medium of the pin 39 and the lever 38. 7

Under normal conditions when it is de= sired to close the opening 23 by means of the curtain 22, the operator may grasp the bottom of the curtain 22 and unwind it on the drum. During this time the tubular member 5 will be locked through the medium of the disk 26 and the engaging bolt 29. As the curtain is pulled down, spring 20 is being unwound and the spring 21 will be winding so that there will be an opposing action between the springs to permit the Winding and unwinding of the curtain with the. expenditure of but little power and since the weight of the curtain will be appreciable, it will be obvious that without the spring 21, the curtain would unwind with too much force and that there would be difiiculty in getting it wound back on the drum. Withthe construction shown, however, it will be comparatively easy to effect the winding and unwinding of the curtain for closing the opening or uncovering it, as the case may be. Therefore, it will be seen that the curtain may be raised and lowered without affecting the water supply, this being desirable since the curtain will perform its usual function in the usual way and the water supply will only be brought into use in the event of a fire.

If a fire occurs and the curtain is wound upon the drum so as to uncover the opening 23, the link 34 may fuse and thereby permit the weight 33 to drop, releasing the pin 29 and permitting the tubular member 5 with the disk 17 and spring 20 to rotate idly about a shaft 8 so that the curtain will drop by gravity; this, however, being opposed by the spring 21, as before. Since the member 5 will rotate idly and carry with it the disk 26, the pin 39 will contact with the finger 40 on arm 38 to open the valve 37 and permit water to be sprayed over the deflector 15 onto the screen.

If the screen is in closing position and a fire occurs so as to fuse the link 34, the disk 26 will be automatically released by thedownward swinging movement of the lever arm 31 and as there will be enough stored-up energy in the spring 20 to impart a rotative movement to the disk, the valve 37 will be actuated to open position to spray water upon the curtain or screen.

From the foregoing it will be seen that the curtain or door 22 may be caused to close or uncover the opening 23 without disturbing the water supply and that the devlce is so arranged that the water may be sprayed against the screen simultaneously with its being released to close the opening or at any time during the closing position of the screen or curtain, provided the link 34 is fused.

lVhat I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. In a device of the class described, a spring drum, means yieldingly opposing the unwinding movement of said drum, a flexible fire door on said drum, thermostatically controlled means for holding the drum against unwinding movement, a spray pipe within the drum, and a valve in the pipe having opening movement in response to the unwinding movement of the drum.

2. In a device of the class described, a winding drum, a flexible'fire door upon the drum, a perforate axle for the drum, a water pipe in the axle, a valve in the pipe actuated by the drum, and means adjacent to the axle to direct water against the door.

3. In a device of the class described, a.

roller curtain having a winding drum, a spray pipe within the drum and a valve in the pipe having opening movement in response to the unwfinding movement of the drum.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

CLARENCE R. BUMBARGER. 

